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[Applause]
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that we now present the world-famous poet and writer, Carl Sandburg.
[Applause]
I’m sure that a few several thousand of you under the roof here tonight, are glad that you came. When they asked me to come, whether I could come, they told me that they would hold these centennial celebrations only once every hundred years and if I didn’t come to this one, I might miss out on ever being at one.
[Laughter and applause]
And I know that some of you came in that spirit tonight. I know that some of you came out of a love of a breed and a blood has made a name for itself over the world. Perhaps at the centennial a hundred years from now there will be a very small fraction of it, but we’ll know much more of the Swedish language than [Swedish phrase].
[Laughter]
And that very convenient remark- I’m coming to believe that eventually it will be incorporated into authentic American slang. I feel today [Swedish phrase]!
[Laughter]
The President had some sentences tonight that reminded me of many years back when the editors of the Bookman Magazine had a long session and a long discussion around the question of what is the most detestable word in the English language. And after a long discussion they were unanimous in agreement that the most detestable word in the English language is the word exclusive. Exclusive! I’m sure that I have more than a little authority in saying that for a group of people under this immense roof tonight, the larger part of whose ancestors were landless peasants in Sweden and came here because there was a chance for land.
They were humble people. They were a plain folk that began that migration to this country something like a hundred years ago, when there were only something like twenty million people living under the American flag. We have added a hundred and twenty million since then. Land was free and they came from where no land was easy for them to have, and they came, most of them, with just their bare hands and a little bundle of belongings.
Today, you travel from Stockholm to New York on an airplane in twenty-six hours. But those people back there, a hundred years ago who began the migration and across several decades, the voyages of the sailing vessels were from two to three months. With my father it was more than three months. It was a voyage about as long as that of the Mayflower.
It wasn’t easy getting here. And when they got here, all they wanted was a little land and a chance to work that land and make it productive for food for mankind. A simple and a humble people mostly, though their reputation, a very curious reputation, for industry, honesty. Perhaps I could give out of this book the people, yes, some of their proverbs.
We’ll see what we’ll see. Time is a great teacher. Today me and tomorrow maybe you. This old anvil, the people, yes, laughs at many broken hammers. What is bitter to stand against today may be sweet to remember tomorrow. Whether the stone bumps the jug or the jug bumps the stone, it’s bad for the jug. One hand washes the other and both wash the face. Better leave the child’s nose dirty than to wring it off. We all belong in the same big family and have the same smell. The liar comes to believe his own lies. He who burns himself must sit on the blisters. God alone understands fools. The dumb mother understands the dumb child. To work hard, to live hard, to die hard, and then go to hell after all would be too damned hard.
[Laughter]
What is red in the bone will tell, between the inbreds and the crossbreeds, the argument goes on. Said one of the Mongols, “I don’t know who my ancestors were, but we’ve been descending for a long time.” And there was our friend, Will Rogers, with Cherokee Indian blood in him, who said, “My ancestors didn’t come over in the Mayflower, but we was there to meet the boat!”
[Laughter]
Said Harmonious the Greek, “Your low birth puts you beneath me.” Iphicrates the Greek replied, “No, the difference between us is this: my family begins with me, and yours ends with you.” The sea moves always, the winds blows always, they want and want and then there is no end to their wanting. But they sings the songs of [people?]. Men will never arrive, men will be always on the way. It is written he shall rest but never for long. The sea and the wind tell him he shall be lonely be [blind?], be shaken with struggle, and go on wanting.
The passage here, the Lincoln passage. Lincoln. Was he a poet and did he write verses? Saying in one speech, “I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man’s bosom. I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man’s bosom. I shall do nothing through malice. What I deal with is too vast for malice.” Lincoln, did he gather the feel of the American dream and seed its kindred over the earth? Right here, saying to an Illinois audience at the debate with Douglas, “As labor is the common burden of our grace, so the effort of some to shift their share of the burden onto the shoulders of others is a great curable curse of the race… I hold that the Almighty had ever made a set of men who should do all of the eating and none of the work, he would have made them with mouths only, and no hands. And if he had made another class that he had intended should do all of the work and none of the eating, he would have made them without mouths and all hands.”
And I brought along for tonight, I brought along for this evening, a Photostat of a little memorandum that Lincoln made, but it happened, never used it in his Illinois audiences in debating with Douglas. It has to do with what there was in this country that led the forbears of many of you to this country in the 1840s and the 1850s, and later. He wrote this memorandum and it has to do with matters that the President referred to in his speech tonight- matters that lie deep in the hearts of many Americans of today. “If A can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B, why may not B snatch the same argument and prove equally that he may enslave A?” The remorse was logically clear. “You say A is white and B is black, it is color then? The lighter having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be enslaved by the first man you meet with a fairer skin then your own. You do not mean color, exactly, you mean the whites- the whites are intellectually the superior of the blacks and therefore have the rights to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet with an intellect superior to your own. But, say you, it is a question of interest. Interest. And if you can make it your interest, you have the right to enslave another. Very well, if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you.”
And then I’ll close with this passage: Lincoln, he was a dreamer, yes. He saw ships at sea, he saw himself living and dead in dreams that came. Into his secretary’s diary December 23, 1863 went an entry. Quote, “The President tonight had a dream. He was in a park with plain people, and as soon as it became known who he was, they began to comment on his appearance. One of them said, ‘He is a very common-looking man.’ The president replied, ‘The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is the reason he makes so many of them.’”
[Applause]
And last of all, he spoke one verse for then and for now, for his hour and for this hour. It was in the famous “house divided” speech in 1858, in the opening. “If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. If we could just know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it.” Lincoln, yes, he had an anxiety about every word that he said to the American people. He guarded his utterings. I think that’s worth remembering in a time when perhaps there is a little more irresponsible utterance than we have ever had in American history: in the case of doubt, hold your tongue. So guard yourself, but you have some degree of certainty that what you are saying today, you will be saying next year, and ten years from now. Hoping that it’ll hold good for now and in all eternity, and it won’t do any harm for us as a people to take as a text that Lincoln sentence: “I shall do nothing in malice, for what I do, or what I deal with, is too vast for malicious dealing.” Malice connects with hate. And any time you get enough hate, you’re going to get a war nothing can stop. However, the present secretary of state has declared nothing that he is doing now, and nothing that he is [believed so to do?] in the future will be done in anger. Will be done in anger. If he can have that kind of control, keep clear of a certain degree of hate, The Third World War won’t come, and if we can keep away for twenty years, chances are we’ll have it staved off for centuries. It’s been-
[Applause]
It’s been nice to face so many of what I call, tonight, kinfolk. Thank you.
[Applause]

[identification of item], in MSS 385 Augustana College Special Collections local history collection, Special Collections, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois.

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Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from Augustana College Special Collections and the copyright holder. Contact specialcollections@augustana.edu or 309-794-7643 for more information.

[Applause]
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that we now present the world-famous poet and writer, Carl Sandburg.
[Applause]
I’m sure that a few several thousand of you under the roof here tonight, are glad that you came. When they asked me to come, whether I could come, they told me that they would hold these centennial celebrations only once every hundred years and if I didn’t come to this one, I might miss out on ever being at one.
[Laughter and applause]
And I know that some of you came in that spirit tonight. I know that some of you came out of a love of a breed and a blood has made a name for itself over the world. Perhaps at the centennial a hundred years from now there will be a very small fraction of it, but we’ll know much more of the Swedish language than [Swedish phrase].
[Laughter]
And that very convenient remark- I’m coming to believe that eventually it will be incorporated into authentic American slang. I feel today [Swedish phrase]!
[Laughter]
The President had some sentences tonight that reminded me of many years back when the editors of the Bookman Magazine had a long session and a long discussion around the question of what is the most detestable word in the English language. And after a long discussion they were unanimous in agreement that the most detestable word in the English language is the word exclusive. Exclusive! I’m sure that I have more than a little authority in saying that for a group of people under this immense roof tonight, the larger part of whose ancestors were landless peasants in Sweden and came here because there was a chance for land.
They were humble people. They were a plain folk that began that migration to this country something like a hundred years ago, when there were only something like twenty million people living under the American flag. We have added a hundred and twenty million since then. Land was free and they came from where no land was easy for them to have, and they came, most of them, with just their bare hands and a little bundle of belongings.
Today, you travel from Stockholm to New York on an airplane in twenty-six hours. But those people back there, a hundred years ago who began the migration and across several decades, the voyages of the sailing vessels were from two to three months. With my father it was more than three months. It was a voyage about as long as that of the Mayflower.
It wasn’t easy getting here. And when they got here, all they wanted was a little land and a chance to work that land and make it productive for food for mankind. A simple and a humble people mostly, though their reputation, a very curious reputation, for industry, honesty. Perhaps I could give out of this book the people, yes, some of their proverbs.
We’ll see what we’ll see. Time is a great teacher. Today me and tomorrow maybe you. This old anvil, the people, yes, laughs at many broken hammers. What is bitter to stand against today may be sweet to remember tomorrow. Whether the stone bumps the jug or the jug bumps the stone, it’s bad for the jug. One hand washes the other and both wash the face. Better leave the child’s nose dirty than to wring it off. We all belong in the same big family and have the same smell. The liar comes to believe his own lies. He who burns himself must sit on the blisters. God alone understands fools. The dumb mother understands the dumb child. To work hard, to live hard, to die hard, and then go to hell after all would be too damned hard.
[Laughter]
What is red in the bone will tell, between the inbreds and the crossbreeds, the argument goes on. Said one of the Mongols, “I don’t know who my ancestors were, but we’ve been descending for a long time.” And there was our friend, Will Rogers, with Cherokee Indian blood in him, who said, “My ancestors didn’t come over in the Mayflower, but we was there to meet the boat!”
[Laughter]
Said Harmonious the Greek, “Your low birth puts you beneath me.” Iphicrates the Greek replied, “No, the difference between us is this: my family begins with me, and yours ends with you.” The sea moves always, the winds blows always, they want and want and then there is no end to their wanting. But they sings the songs of [people?]. Men will never arrive, men will be always on the way. It is written he shall rest but never for long. The sea and the wind tell him he shall be lonely be [blind?], be shaken with struggle, and go on wanting.
The passage here, the Lincoln passage. Lincoln. Was he a poet and did he write verses? Saying in one speech, “I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man’s bosom. I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man’s bosom. I shall do nothing through malice. What I deal with is too vast for malice.” Lincoln, did he gather the feel of the American dream and seed its kindred over the earth? Right here, saying to an Illinois audience at the debate with Douglas, “As labor is the common burden of our grace, so the effort of some to shift their share of the burden onto the shoulders of others is a great curable curse of the race… I hold that the Almighty had ever made a set of men who should do all of the eating and none of the work, he would have made them with mouths only, and no hands. And if he had made another class that he had intended should do all of the work and none of the eating, he would have made them without mouths and all hands.”
And I brought along for tonight, I brought along for this evening, a Photostat of a little memorandum that Lincoln made, but it happened, never used it in his Illinois audiences in debating with Douglas. It has to do with what there was in this country that led the forbears of many of you to this country in the 1840s and the 1850s, and later. He wrote this memorandum and it has to do with matters that the President referred to in his speech tonight- matters that lie deep in the hearts of many Americans of today. “If A can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B, why may not B snatch the same argument and prove equally that he may enslave A?” The remorse was logically clear. “You say A is white and B is black, it is color then? The lighter having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be enslaved by the first man you meet with a fairer skin then your own. You do not mean color, exactly, you mean the whites- the whites are intellectually the superior of the blacks and therefore have the rights to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet with an intellect superior to your own. But, say you, it is a question of interest. Interest. And if you can make it your interest, you have the right to enslave another. Very well, if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you.”
And then I’ll close with this passage: Lincoln, he was a dreamer, yes. He saw ships at sea, he saw himself living and dead in dreams that came. Into his secretary’s diary December 23, 1863 went an entry. Quote, “The President tonight had a dream. He was in a park with plain people, and as soon as it became known who he was, they began to comment on his appearance. One of them said, ‘He is a very common-looking man.’ The president replied, ‘The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is the reason he makes so many of them.’”
[Applause]
And last of all, he spoke one verse for then and for now, for his hour and for this hour. It was in the famous “house divided” speech in 1858, in the opening. “If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. If we could just know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it.” Lincoln, yes, he had an anxiety about every word that he said to the American people. He guarded his utterings. I think that’s worth remembering in a time when perhaps there is a little more irresponsible utterance than we have ever had in American history: in the case of doubt, hold your tongue. So guard yourself, but you have some degree of certainty that what you are saying today, you will be saying next year, and ten years from now. Hoping that it’ll hold good for now and in all eternity, and it won’t do any harm for us as a people to take as a text that Lincoln sentence: “I shall do nothing in malice, for what I do, or what I deal with, is too vast for malicious dealing.” Malice connects with hate. And any time you get enough hate, you’re going to get a war nothing can stop. However, the present secretary of state has declared nothing that he is doing now, and nothing that he is [believed so to do?] in the future will be done in anger. Will be done in anger. If he can have that kind of control, keep clear of a certain degree of hate, The Third World War won’t come, and if we can keep away for twenty years, chances are we’ll have it staved off for centuries. It’s been-
[Applause]
It’s been nice to face so many of what I call, tonight, kinfolk. Thank you.
[Applause]